Really cool video here. These are a lot of throws where Nick Foles is under pressure and responds well. Some of the pressure is immediate, but on other plays Foles is holding the ball and waiting for someone to come open.

Some really impressive plays and throws.

_

Neil

You have to admire a man who executes when 300lb men are trying to kill him.

SteveH

Still needs to work on his slide. It pains me to watch.

TommyLawlor

No doubt.

Age

Kinda looks like a little kid falling on his butt while learning how to skate.

Ig_l

There were a handful of plays that reminded me of big wave surfers where they appear completely engulfed in the curl but then re-appear at the other end. Except Foles not only lives through it, he completes the pass downfield.

At 1:20, against the Raiders, Foles seems to telepathically feel the rush, sidesteps it, breaks out of the pocket, then throws downfield on the run (while DBs are looking the wrong way) for a big completion.

Man was he ‘on’ that day.

Baloophi

A couple of observations after I’ve imbued myself with the clarity that only a single malt can provide…

1) “Under Pressure” is a fantastic song. Whatever the hell came on after it is not.

2) The basketball player in Foles seems to surface with pressure – he’s not unlike a point guard in his ability to survey the field on the run and find someone who has “position.”

3) I’m going to miss DeSean, even if our offense does not.

4) If you haven’t treated yourself to a glass of Balvenie Caribbean Cask, then you haven’t treated yourself.

5) Not rocket science, but Foles seems to prefer rolling right.

6) Rocket science: Brian May earned a PhD in astrophysics. He also built his own guitar (the Red Special) with his father.

7) Foles is not fleet of foot. Duh. That said, he’s certainly more mobile than Brady and Manning in their primes.

8) His ability to keep plays alive for even just one more second could have an exponential effect on our tight end vs. linebacker advantage.

9) What the hell happened against Minnesota?

10) Our OL is good.

Media Mike

3!

YES

TommyLawlor

Can I assume you used Mello Yello as a mixer for that scotch?

jshort

Was going to run out and get a 6 pack of Colt 45 till I read #4, Now have to wait for the liquor to open. Will drink a couple glasses, to see if my writing skills become enhanced.

ICDogg

The second song was called “Pressure” by Paramore. I did not know that, but I figured it was a good chance to try out the SoundHound app on my phone, which identified the song in about one second.

Anders

Foles cant roll left ever. He is terrible that way

Age

Noticed many of these, too, though I haven’t yet put the time or money in to acquire a taste for scotch. Teams will certainly be better prepared for that right-rolling tendency, so hopefully he continues to evolve.

I also like how many completions he made where his head is looking one way, but his arm shoots out several degrees in a different direction.

Media Mike

This is absolutely a skill in which he’ll improve. He already shows indications of trying to do the right thing on pressure plays as opposed to scared turtle bee-atch Kolb or any of the plethora of read one and run f-tards such as RGKnee, Scam Newton, Kaeper-nit-wit, and/or Coke snorting Johnny Football.

“As a freshman I compared him to Gronkowski,” said another AFC scout. “They played him at tight end, H-back, fullback. In high school he was one of the top rushers in the nation. He really liked Chip Kelly. He became like his father because he really had a messed-up family background.

“When Chip left it really hurt him. He’s got a lot of problems in his background. … He’s really intelligent. He’s been pushed around his entire life and he has no confidence in himself off the field.”

I knew Lyerla didn’t have problems with Chip. But I didn’t knew that he was a father figure for him. Which leads me to the question: why didn’t we bring him in? If that AFC scout is correct, and I’m sure he did his research, Lyerla would have been thrilled to reunite with Chip. So it probably was the Eagles decision to not bring him in. Despite being potentially one 53 roster spot up for grabs. 90 would have been absolutely no problem if we would have wanted.

Now, we all know how much Chip values character. But there’s no doubt in Lyerlas talent and we wouldn’t have invested anything significant in him as UDFA. Maybe it was just bad timing. Maybe Chip would have giving him a shot in one or two years, when the culture he seeks is really established. But maybe Chip would have been exactly the guy that could turn him around.

We don’t need to worry about it, really, since Chip knew him better than anybody in the NFL. His talent and his character. Of course, if he turns out to be a Pro Bowl TE (and he should have the talent for it – but Josh Gordon has the talent to be the #2 WR in the league and that doesn’t help the Browns at the moment…) there will be a lot of crying around. “He signed all those useless former Oregon players, but ignored the one who can play.” But Chip definetely had an informed opinion about it.

NinjaP

Eagles probably had no thought of a rookie making the team over ertz, celek and casey. So it was in colt’s best interest to try elsewhere.

Dominik

They carried four TEs last year. So it’s not out of the question that Lyerla could have been the #4 TE. If he reaches his potential and is no headache, he would have beat out Igwenagu, Burton and Annen easily. If he really showed promise, maybe even Casey. So I don’t think that’s what stopped Chip.

Anders

The problem is Lyerla does not fit Kelly’s model of high character guys.
How do he justifies taking in Lyerla after he cut his pro bowl WR?

Dominik

That’s what I thought, too. Was part about the idea of him maybe getting a chance if Chip would have been here one or two years longer and already established his culture.

But I have to say: there’s a difference between an UDFA and your 10 mio/year star WE when it comes to character. Chip invited Brad Wing to camp last year and he had character concerns. Russell Shepard, to an extend, too. It’s not like Chip turns away instantly if there are character problems, he just doesn’t want to invest anything into players like that.

I could imagine that Chip hated it when Lyerla turned his back on his team and quit. He maybe can life with an idiot (like I said, if he hasn’t to invest anything in him), but he hates it when somebody quits. And I get that, to be honest. Maybe he’s afraid Lyerla is having too good of a time if he’d be able to make it to the 53 and then Chip already cut somebody who’d have showed promise – I think he hates that idea.

A_T_G

When the video was starting I was pretty sure the song was Under Pressure, but considered the fact that Ice, Ice Baby could also fit.

NinjaP

Nick was the best against pressure in his draft class. So no real wonder that he handles it well in the NFL.

Dominik

To be fair, he also had the most experience under pressure since his O-Line was pretty horrible. 😉

ICDogg

Apparently the World Cup has a 3rd place game today. Reminds me of when the NFL had such a game in the 1960s. It was called the Playoff Bowl and it was played at the Orange Bowl in Miami every year for 10 years. Vince Lombardi most notoriously hated this game, calling it the Shit Bowl and saying it was a “loser’s game for losers”.

It was supposed to count for something at the time, but historically these games have been reclassified as “exhibition games.”

TommyLawlor

I have never heard of that. Interesting.

JakFTW

Louis Van Haal (Dutch national team coach) basically said the same thing about the 3rd place game at the World Cup as well.

Anders

Foles vision and accuracy on the run is just great. Not many guys are that accurate on the move like Foles is

Daniel Norman Richwine

I could watch that video over and over. Add all those plays “under pressure” up and, if he hadn’t been able to perform, his numbers would be not nearly so impressive.
You don’t have a season like Foles just had and still somehow suck.

Scott J

The most pleasant surprise has been Nick’s pocket presence and the way he slides around. McNabb had it and so does Foles. You can’t teach that.

inthemiddle01

Glad you liked my video Tommy. If you liked that one, you might also like the one I did of Jason Peters and Evan Mathis: http://youtu.be/6dRhxteDggg

Casey Matthews never became the player the team expected when they drafted him in 2011. The hope was that he would be the team’s long term answer at MLB. Oops. Matthews did become a solid backup and role player. He … Continue reading →

I am so old that I actually remember a time when there were no player rankings in video games. You have to go back to Madden ’92 or something like that to get to that point. These days player rankings … Continue reading →

Saw this on the ESPN Skins blog. The Redskins certainly could use more help — and more players to produce like Jackson. In the past, his big plays usually meant wins: From 2010-13, the Eagles were 16-4 when he scored … Continue reading →

Rick Minter was recently in Toledo, checking out an ILB prospect. This player is late round or UDFA material so don’t get too excited. The Philadelphia Eagles linebackers coach was among the representatives from 30 NFL teams at Toledo’s pro day Monday. … Continue reading →

You never want to make too much of the Penn State Pro Day. Since it is within driving distance, it only makes sense that the Eagles would send plenty of people out to State College to check out prospects. The … Continue reading →